Thinking Out Loud
by xxgingerchanxxx
Summary: Secret Santa 2014 for the lovely Feranelia. Having always been a sickly child, Gary is dropped off at his grandfather's house in the strange town of Pallet where he meets his future best friend. Includes their first meeting, looking for tadpoles, watching horror movies, sleepovers, awkward Christmas party games and loving kisses and promises of forever.


A/N: Secret Santa 2014 gift for the lovely Feranelia. Thank you so much for all your patience and I am so sorry it's so late.

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon or any of the characters spoken of. All stories created are a figment of my imagination. Title goes to Ed Sheeran's _Thinking Out Loud. _

July 13, 2001 – Ages 6 & 7

Confusion muddled Gary's mind as he stared down at his reflection, dropping another rock into the water. Plop. Ripples blurred his image, rendering it unrecognizable, but the tight feeling in his chest remained. He grabbed another rock in his small hand and dropped it vertically down, on his reflection's nose.

He had no idea why his parents had suddenly decided that they didn't want him anymore and dropped him off at his grandfather's house. They had promised that they'd visit soon, but Gary highly doubted that. After all, if they really loved him, they wouldn't have left him with his semi-deranged grandfather in the first place.

Now, Gary didn't have anything against the old man – in his six year old mind, his grandfather was as nice as any grandfather could be. He always had those pretty cherry flavored candies in his ratty lab coat's pocket, and was always excited to humor Gary with explanations of his latest research. However, many a time, the man would get too involved with his work and forget entirely about his other responsibilities – including Gary. And that was precisely what had happened to the boy on his fine spring afternoon. After waving goodbye to his parents with him, the professor had declared that he had some extremely important work to attend to and had left Gary to his own.

Gary shuffled then scrunched his nose. He hated being by himself. Back home, his mother constantly doted over him and every Wednesday, his father would take him out to get his favorite choco-strawberry milkshake.

_Tomorrow is Wednesday,_ Gary thought as he dropped another rock into the water – this time it landed on his reflection's right eye. Guess he'd be going to bed without one.

He reached down to pick up another rock, only to realize that he had already dropped all of them into the river. Realizing that he'd have to find something else to entertain himself with, he turned to walk away when something sparkled in the corner of his eye. Curiously, he turned back to the river and dropped to his knees. He leaned in close to the river, his nose nearly touching the surface and searched for the shiny object.

"Hey, watch'a doin'?" The new voice startled Gary and seconds later, he found himself underwater. He let out a gasp and flailed helplessly as water shot up his nose. He immediately closed his mouth, trying to salvage what precious oxygen he had left and kicked in an attempt to stay afloat. However, his weak body wasn't in any condition to support him longer than a few seconds – the fact that he didn't know how to swim didn't help the cause in any manner – and he soon felt himself sinking. He shut his eyes and plugged his nose, darkness slowly engulfing him as his legs gave out when suddenly the water shifted.

Thin arms wrapped around his body and Gary felt himself being propelled towards the surface with strong and quick kicks just as he blacked out.

His hands tightened around the around the soft green grass as he heaved out a mouthful of water.

A dark body loomed over his own, blocking the sun from his face. Gary squinted his eyes as he tried to take in the intensity of the entire affair. He stared up at his savior – a boy with jet black haired tied back into a tiny ponytail and more scratches on his face than Gary could count.

"You okay?" the boy asked, concern apparent in his voice. He grabbed the edge of his shirt and wrung it, releasing a tiny puddle of water from the threads. He repeated the action with the other side of his shirt, before looking down at Gary with a raised eyebrow.

Gary nodded and tried to reply, only to cough and spurt a mouthful of water straight at the bent over boy's face. Between the coughing fit, he managed to gasp out an apology, though the boy most likely did not hear him – much more preoccupied with rubbing Gary's back and holding him upright.

"H-hey, is there anything you need?"

Between coughs Gary pointed at his knapsack which was lying next to the riverbank. "I-inhaler," he choked out, doubling over and touching his head to the ground.

The boy turned and sprinted towards the bag, returning at almost an inhuman speed and rummaging through it until he found a small red tube. He held the object in front of Gary, "This?"

Gary nodded and reached out for his inhaler. After taking two puffs, he relaxed and his breathing steadily stabilized.

"Hey, what does that thing do?"

"Helps me breathe better."

"Would it help me breathe better?"

"Dunno. You got asthma?"

"No."

"Then no." Gary stood up, cringing as he felt a dull throb in his right knee. He looked down and saw that the tough skin had split. "Great."

"Oh my god. So much blood," the boy exclaimed. "Here let me take care of it."

Despite Gary's protests, the boy dragged him over to the river, cupping his hands to fill them with water. He was about to dump it over Gary's leg when the other boy screamed. "Don't! That's dirty!"

"S'not. I drink this water all the time." As if to prove his point, the boy tilted his head back and let the cool liquid drip into his mouth. Gary watched with disgust before struggling to his feet, only to sit back down due to the increasing pain.

"Fine, whatever," he said, pulling his left leg up his chest and turning his head. "Do what you want."

The boy cheered before filling his hands again. He let the clear liquid drip slowly over Gary's wound before picking up his own backpack and rummaging through it. He pulled out a gigantic bandage and grinned widely before tearing it open and blowing on Gary's leg to attempt to dry it out.

"I always get hurt out here so my mom makes me keep these," he explained as he worked. "She taught me how to patch myself up. Anyways, I definitely know you ain't from around here, now. No Pallet kid would freak out as much as you did."

He placed the gigantic over Gary's knee before leaning forward and kissing it.

"W-what are you doing?" Gary shrieked, pushing the boy away from him, wincing as his skin stretched under the bandage.

"My mom always kisses my knee after I get hurt. Says it'll heal faster that way," the boy smiled, zipping up his backpack.

Gary stared at the other and rolled his eyes before picking up his own backpack. "Anyways, since this entire thing was your fault, I think you should say sorry."

"_My _fault? How is it _my_ fault? I saved you!" the boy protested, standing up next to Gary.

"I wouldn't have fallen if you hadn't scared me."

"It's not my fault you're a scaredy cat. I was just wondering who you are – never seen you before."

"I am not a scaredy cat and I'll have you know that I just moved here today."

"Oh really," the boy cocked his head curiously. "Where are you staying?"

"My grandfather, Professor Oak. You _have _heard of him, right?" Gary smiled smugly. Though he was young, he still understood that his grandfather was an important asset to the scientific world – almost like a celebrity.

"You're Professor Oak's grandson?" the boy jumped excitedly. "That means you can go into his lab, right?"

"Well yeah, I live there…" Gary replied, rolling his eyes once again as the boy tripped over a rock.

"Dude, you gotta get me in!"

"What?"

"Come on! I've always wanted to see what Oak's lab looks like. It's the least you could do since I just saved your life."

"Why would I do that? And what makes you think you saved me? I was fine by myself."

"Didn't look like you were fine. Looked like you were drowning," the boy answered, shrugging his shoulders.

"I didn't ask you to come pull me out. I owe you nothing." And that was the end of the conversation. Gary turned and started to limp back towards his grandfather's house when the boy called out once again.

"I have a secret that I'll show you if you get me in!"

Gary stopped in his tracks and turned. "Secret?"

"Yeah!" the boy ran up to him and grabbed his hand. "It's pretty awesome – no one knows about it."

"No one?"

"Nope." The boy looked very proud.

Gary thought about the boy's offer before slowly nodding his head. He really liked secrets and the excitement on the boy's face made it clear that his secret was a good one.

"Promise?" the boy asked, cocking hiss head to the side. Gary nodded immediately. The boy arched an eyebrow before spitting into his hand and holding it out to Gary. "Shake on it then."

"Eww, that's gross!" Gary complained, scrunching his nose.

"Shake or no secret."

Gary stared at the hand for a few seconds before groaning and mimicking the boy's actions. He cringed slightly as his slimy hand met the other's.

"Great!" the boy exclaimed. "Now we're friends. My name's Ash. What's yours?"

"…Gary."

"Awesome! Okay, let's go." Ash changed subjects really quickly, Gary noted as the other grabbed his hand and started leading him towards the woods' exit.

"What _are _those?" Gary leaned in closer to the sandbox in Ash's backyard. The boy had managed to fill the box with water and tiny fishlike creatures were swimming around in it.

"Shh, don't let my mom see us," Ash replied, lifting the cover he had placed on the sandbox a little higher. "They're baby frogs. I'm raising them myself!" His chest swelled with pride as he watched his pets group together in a corner of the sandbox.

"They're called tadpoles, stupid," Gary recalled reading something about frogs with his mom in his children's animal encyclopedia. "Not baby frogs."

"Yeah, well they're going to grow up to be frogs, so why waste your time calling them toadpoles?"

"_Tad_poles," Gary corrected, before bending over and looking at them more closely. "How long you had them?"

"'Bout two months, I guess."

"And your mom doesn't know about them?"

"_Nobody_ knows about them, 'cept you now, I guess." Ash grabbed a pulled a bag of lettuce out of his backpack and started throwing leaves into the makeshift pool. The tadpoles quickly swarmed to the food and within seconds the food was gone. He continued to throw small pieces in, handing some to Gary as well, until the entire bag was empty.

Once they had finished their meal, the tiny amphibians quickly dispersed into the tiny nooks and crannies, hiding behind the algae and other plants Ash had lined the edges of the sandbox with. One however, was too slow to escape and the boy quickly scooped it up with a small fishing net lying by the side of the pool. He dropped it into a small glass jar that Gary didn't even know he was carrying – in fact, he now wondered, how Ash fit all that stuff into his backpack, and why was he carrying it in the first place?

"Here," Ash said, handing the jar to Gary. "This is a gift of our friendship. We can take turns taking care of it. I'll probably take the rest of the toadpoles back to the river tomorrow – was 'ctually planning on doing it today –"

_That would explain the jar, _Gary thought.

"– but we can keep this one until it grows into a frog. And then we can go release it together!"

Gary stared at the jar, then Ash, then then jar again before finally asking, "We're friends?"

"Reckon so. I mean, I _did_ just show you my deepest, darkest secret."

Gary kept his eyes glued on Ash for a few seconds more, furrowing his eyebrows before sighing and replying. "'Kay, friends." He reached out for the jar and held it against his chest, feeling the slight vibrations from the tadpole swimming around in it.

Ash beamed before turning to look at the sinking sun. "Ah, shoot, I was going to take the tadpoles back today, but I guess I'll have to do it tomorrow – Mom's gonna kill me if I come home late again."

He started tossing astray items into his bag before hiking it up on his back. "'Kay, Gary, I'll see you tomorrow then, yeah? You can give me a tour of your grandpa's lab."

"You mean we're going to hang out tomorrow too?"

Ash cocked his head, "Yeah? Isn't that what best friends do?"

"I'm your best friend?"

"Well you know my secret so I guess you deserve that spot. You can take care of him for today and I'll take it tomorrow!" And with those last few words, he pulled Gary into a quick hug before sprinting towards his house.

Gary watched as a young woman stepped outside, calling Ash's name. Suddenly remembering that he also had a grandfather to get back to, he quickly turned and climbed under the hole in the backyard fence that the pair had entered through, eager to return home and tell the old man about his new best friend. For some reason, he had a feeling that he and Ash were going to end up being friends for a long time.

May 17, 2007 – Ages 12 & 13

"Hey, hey." Gary turned and found himself face to face with a single red eye. He screamed and quickly backed away from the DVD case Ash was holding, flipping his lunch tray over and earning a warning glare from the yard duty.

"What in blazin' heck are you doing, loser?" he yelled at his friend, piping down once the supervisor started to walk in his direction. Ash only laughed in response and plopped down beside Gary, throwing his left arm over the boy's shoulder.

"You call me a loser but I'm not the one pissin' my pants." he grinned. "Got it from Richie. He said it'll give you a real good scare. So good that you'll be up for weeks after watching it, so naturally…"

Gary felt his temperature drop several degrees but chose to shrug off Ash's enthusiasm with nonchalance. Bending over to clean up his mess, he replied from under the table. "Sorry, I'm busy tonight."

"Well what about tomorrow?"

"Nope, Gramps has got some sorta research panel he's draggin' me to."

"Then the day after?" Ash persisted.

"Sorry, I'm booked this entire week."

Ash frowned and stared at his friend's back. Soon a wicked smile spread across his face and he arched an eyebrow as he spoke. "You're scared aren't you?"

"What?" Gary shot up, banging his head on the lunch table in the process. "What makes you say that?" he sputtered.

"It's just that you're usually hangin' out at my place, complainin' 'bout how school is _so_ easy and you're bored and have nothin' to do, and all of a sudden you don't have two hours to spare?" Ash replied, ruffling the other's hair before lightly smacking his head.

Gary winced and glared, "You make me sound like a friendless loser."

"That's because you _are_ one. A _scared_ friendless loser." Ash laughed, pulling up the DVD case once again. The sound grew louder as Gary drew away from the box and busied himself with rearranging his inedible lunch.

"Scaredy cat," Ash taunted, grabbing Gary's face and turning it towards his own.

"Am not."

"Are too!"

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

"Believe what you want. I don't have to prove anything to you," Gary replied coldly as he finally got up and grabbed his lunch tray. "I'll see you later."

He scurried away from the room as Ash yelled after him, "Yeah, go ahead and run away. I'm watching this today with or without you."

"I'll have you know that I'm missing a very important meeting right now," Gary growled from his perch on the end of the couch. Ash hummed in response as he popped the DVD into the player, busying himself with flipping the channels before the blue selection screen came up.

Gary groaned and pulled his knees up this chest. Ash's taunts had haunted him to wits' end and by the time the day had been over, he had just about had enough. He'd rather take on a thousand of those grudge girls than be the target of Ash's taunts for the rest of his years. And that was how he found himself huddled up on the edge of the Ketchum's sofa, silently prepping himself for the horror to come.

_None of it's real,_ he told himself. _It's all fake – just camera tricks. It's all fake. _

"Ready?"

_No!_

Ash grinned as he plopped down beside Gary and handed him a bowl of homemade popcorn. "Dinner was cooked by yours truly tonight."

"Popcorn isn't dinner."

"Popcorn is food and dinner is food, therefore popcorn is dinner," Ash announced, as if he were explaining the cure to cancer. Gary simply rolled his eyes and took a single piece, gingerly nibbling on it.

_It isn't real_, were his last thoughts before the movie started, the blackness from the screen slowly engulfing the entire room.

"So? What'd you think?" Ash asked, lifting the blanket that Gary had spent a good majority of the movie hiding under. He grinned at his friend, eager to discuss the fine details of it all.

"'T'was good," Gary replied, his voice a bit hoarse. In all honesty, this had probably been the best horror movie experience that he had ever been involved in. He hadn't soiled his pants this time – his biggest fear – and had only screamed about twelve times. That's right, he counted.

"Right? Oh man, that point where the girl was crawling towards the other girl was so creepy. Richie said she showed up in his dreams for about a week after he saw this one."

_Only a week? _Gary thought. _Lucky him. She's probably gonna haunt me for the rest of my life. _

"Mhmm."

"And that part where –"

"I think it's time to go to bed," Gary interrupted, standing up on shaky legs and picking up his backpack. "I'm gonna go change."

"You're staying over?"

_There ain't no way I'm walking home in the dark after seeing that one,_ Gary thought. "Do you see what time it is?"

Ash glanced at the grandfather clock and nodded, "Yeah, one o'clock. You'd better stay here."

After a quick trip to the bathroom to brush their teeth – Gary kept looking over his shoulder, afraid that the girl from the movie was watching him – the pair entered Ash's room and simultaneously jumped on the boy's bed.

"Get out of my bed," Ash complained as he kicked Gary with a bit too much force. The other boy tumbled to the floor with loud thud before getting up and flipping Ash over his back.

"I missed my grandpa's meeting. The least you could do is give me your bed," Gary retorted, stepping on Ash's stomach before leaping into his bed and fluffing the pillow. "Besides, I was raised in luxury – I can't sleep on the floor. It would be terrible for my back."

And with those last few words, he plopped down and turned his back to the other boy, pretending to instantly fall asleep. After a few minutes, he heard Ash slowly shuffling to the sleeping bag lying on the floor and lie down.

Silence covered the room like a thin layer of mist, and with each passing moment grew more and more unbearable. Gary managed to lie with his back away from Ash for at least half an hour before his side began to ache and he was forced to turn over. Instantly, his eyes fell upon his best friend who had managed to actually fall asleep. The other boy looked quite calm, much to Gary's disappointment. Traces that he had just watched the most terrifying movie in his life were amiss from Ash's face. Gary, on the other hand, was completely petrified. No matter where he looked, he saw the girl, slowly making her way towards him, her arms twisted and turned at inhumanly dangerous angles. He saw her approach from the corners of the room, on the backs of his eyelids, stuck to the walls. He could hear her soft breaths mixed in with sharp moans as clear as music plugged into his ears. He could smell her rancid breath and feel the warm gusts of air that she exhaled. The entire room was made up of her and he could find no escape.

He looked back at Ash who had now turned _his_ back to Gary, unaware of the crisis that his best friend was going through.

"Ash," Gary whispered. He knew his friend was asleep, but it was worth a shot. "Ash, you awake?" Upon receiving no response – there was no reason to expect one, to be honest; Ash was a very heavy sleeper – he quietly crept out of the bed and crawled over to where his friend was lying. To his relief, Ash had left the side of the sleeping bag unzipped and Gary was able to find just enough room to squeeze himself in.

_It's just until the dark passes, _he thought as he drew closer to his friend's back. _Once the sun comes up, I'll go back to the bed. _

However, his plan was quickly wrecked when Ash turned over, throwing his arms over Gary's body. The black haired boy snuggled up to his friend, rubbing his cheek against Gary's shoulder in his sleep and snoring loudly into his friend's ear. Gary gazed at his friend's face, noticing by the moonlight leaking into the room, that his friend had a lot of freckles – probably the result of being in the sun so much. He brushed Ash's face out of the boy's face, the move that delivered the downfall to his plan. Ash jolted awake – _he didn't wake up from me calling his name, but he woke up from having his hair touched? _Gary though – and quickly locked eyes with his friend.

"Wha –? What are you doing here? I thought you wanted the bed?" he immediately demanded, eyes softening when he felt Gary tremble against him. "Hey, are you okay?" he asked, sitting up.

"Couldn't sleep," Gary murmured, rolling over, his back once again towards Ash. "Sorry, I'll go back to the bed." He sat up to leave, only to be pulled back down by his friend.

"I was just kidding," Ash replied, wrapping his arms around his shaking friend's frame. "Are you scared?"

Though it killed him on the inside to admit it, Gary slowly nodded his head. He felt Ash smile against the back of his. "I can't do scary movies."

"I thought so," Ash said, tightening his hold on Gary. "You should have told me."

"You would have made fun of me."

"But only for like ten minutes. I wouldn't have made you watch the movie with me."

Upon receiving no reply from Gary, Ash nudged the boy until he finally convinced him to turn over. Once again he wrapped his arms tightly around his friend, and pressed a kiss to his forehead. "It's okay. I'm here. She won't get."

Though he hadn't said much, the words managed to reassure Gary and he slowly felt himself relaxing in Ash's arms. Sleep eventually clouded his mind and overtook his entire being and slowly he managed to fall asleep.

December 25, 2010 – Ages 15 & 16

"I'm bored." Gary glanced at up from his log cake. May was standing on one of the dining chairs, her arms crossed over her chest. "Let's do something."

The boy rolled his eyes – a habit that had only grown more frequent with age – and took another bite of his cake. The entire room was decked out in colorful lights and shiny snowflakes, giving the house a very gaudy but, at the same time, festive look. Ash's mother had really outdone herself with the Christmas decorations this year. He glanced over at said boy who was busy laughing at some stupid joke he had just told Brock.

Leave it to Ash to laugh at his own jokes.

Truthfully, as the years had passed, Gary had become quite accustomed to the boy's strange antics – perhaps too accustomed to the point where he found them quite endearing. Of course, that endearment had turned into a full blown crush and Gary had quite a bit trouble making eye contact with his best friend, for fear of blowing his cover – and turning into a tomato in the process.

"We could play spin the bottle," another girl, Misty, suggested. May lit up at the idea and scurried off to find a bottle. She returned moments later with an empty wine bottle that she had snuck away from the adults' dining table.

"Hey, hey, guys we're going to play a game. Clear the floor!" May exclaimed as she rushed around, ushering all the friends who had gathered in the Ketchum residence that night into a tight circle. She set the bottle in the center before surveying the group. "You know, spin the bottle is kind of boring though. Is there any other game we could play?"

"We could always play Truth or Dare, but you know, just do the dares," Drew suggested. Gary rolled his eyes for what seemed like the hundredth time that evening. It was very evident that Drew was simply using this party as an excuse to somehow plant one on May. Of course, everyone _except_ May had noticed.

"That's a brilliant idea!" May exclaimed.

_Stupid girl, you're really going to end up regretting this one, _Gary thought, shaking his head and finishing off his cake.

May gave the bottle a quick spin, smiling evilly as it landed on Paul. The boy arched his eyebrow, his eyes as cold as ice as he glared at May, warning her not to do anything stupid.

Of course, if there was one thing Gary had learned in all the years he had known May, it was that she was the ditziest dork he had ever had the pleasure of calling his acquaintance. And with no surprise, today was no exception.

"Give Drew a lap dance," she said simply, as if she were asking the boy to pass her a napkin.

"Excuse me?" Paul asked, his voice low and threatening. Gary felt Ash shudder beside him, and that was no surprise – Paul was the one person in the world whose bad side he hoped to never be on.

"You heard what I said. Do it," she replied, not wavering.

"May, there are adults here."

"Yeah, drunk adults. They can't even walk – you really think they're going to come in here?"

"You're pathetic. You really think I'm gonna listen to you?" Paul continued, his glare hardening – _I didn't even know it was possible for it to get scarier, _Gary thought.

"Hey buddy, you wanna play, you gotta follow the rules," May shot back, standing up and grabbing Paul by the arms. Despite her small frame, she managed to drag the boy up. "Now do as I say or you're gonna be outside without any clothes to warm your ass."

She turned and addressed the rest of the group. "That's the punishment. If you don't complete the dare, you have to stand outside in your underwear for fifteen minutes. And as you all know – it's snowing." She returned her stare to Paul, "Now are you gonna do it or are you goin' outside?"

"How is this even truth or dare?" Paul grumbled, as he started to peel off his jacket.

"No way," Brock said, peeling his stare away from the adults' table where the town nurse was seated for the first time that evening. "He's actually going to do it?"

The entire group was silent as Paul stripped down to his underwear and walked towards the door.

"H-hey, Paul, I think she was kidding," Drew laughed awkwardly, clearly concerned about the consequences that were sure the follow this incident. "You –"

"No I'm not," May interrupted. She turned to Drew and pointed at her face. "Look at me. Am I laughing?"

"May, this is –"

"Very serious business." And that was the end of the conversation. The group followed Paul to the door, shivering as the boy placed a bare foot in the snow. It instantly sank and a very apparent chill shot through Paul's body.

"You're going to pay for this," Paul snarled.

"Giving me a lap dance wouldn't have been _that_ bad," Drew whined from the back of the group.

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever, keep walking. I gave you a choice," May replied, unwavering. Gary had to admit that the girl had guts.

Paul continued out into the front yard until he was standing in the center of the lawn. He turned and stared at the group, his look causing Brock to cough and go back inside, claiming that he needed water. Gary didn't blame him – he would rather become the main character of a horror movie than watch this incident go down.

Fifteen minutes passed achingly slowly. And when Paul was finally allowed to come back inside, a suffocating silence passed through the group. The boy's glare never faltered.

"Okay," Drew coughed after about ten minutes of the deathly silence. He looked over to May whose eyes were locked in what looked like a war with Paul's. "Who's next?"

May instantly looked away, raising her hand. "Ooh, me! Lemme spin!"

"You just spun. And look at all the problems you caused," Drew growled, pulling the bottle away from her reach. He handed it to Ash. "Here, stupid. You do it."

Ash spun. Brock was dared to lick Misty's shoe. Lame. Next!

Brock spun. Dawn had to get up on the table and sing and dance to a Beyoncé song. "Keep it PG," Drew warned.

Dawn spun. May had to kiss Drew. The boy's face turned tomato red and Gary had a hard time keeping his snickers in.

Unlike Drew, May treated the kiss as no big deal and took it one step further, quickly pressing her lips against his. The boy was left lying on the floor without breath.

Finally, it was her turn to spin again. The bottle landed on Gary.

Gary gulped. _This chick's crazy._

"Gary, I dare you –"

_Please no lap dances. _

" – to kiss Ash."

The boy's jaw quickly dropped and he looked over to his best friend who was staring back at him equally awkwardly. "Uh…"

"Don't you dare chicken out on this," May said, slamming her hands down on the floor. "Come on, it's not that bad. I mean, I just kissed _that_ thing." She pointed at Drew who had finally recovered. "And he isn't even that good."

"Oh, you act like I was the problem," Drew shot back, cheeks flaming red. "You're the one who doesn't know how to kiss. Pretty pathetic, if I must say so myself."

"Please," May replied. "Not everything in life can be about you, Drew. No matter how true it is. Right now the spotlight is on Gary and Ash – butt out."

She looked back at Gary expectantly. "I'm going to count to five."

Gary felt his breath hitch. _If she could do that to Paul, imagine what she'd do to me._

"One..."

_It's just a small kiss. _

"Two…"

_There is no reason for us to open our lips._

"Three..."

_I mean we bathed together when we were little. There is no reason to be embarrassed._

"Four…"

Gary closed his eyes and began to lean in, hoping that in his blindness, his lips would reach Ash's.

"Five!"

He swore, his face was right near Ash's when the other quickly put the back of his hand up, causing Gary to plant a fat kiss on it.

"There," he said, glaring at May. "He kissed me. You happy?"

"That ain't a kiss," May growled.

"It is," Ash replied simply. "You didn't specify where he had to kiss me and look at him. Do you really have to make him so uncomfortable? It's just a game for fucks' sakes."

"That's cheating!" the girl whined, bouncing up and down.

"No it's not." Ash turned to look at the rest of the group, eyes shooting at the wall clock behind them. "Anyways, I think it's time for y'all to head out. It's almost two thirty in the morning?"

Uncomfortable murmurs of agreement sounded, everyone was completely fed up with May's shenanigans and wanted to leave before she did something detrimental to their friendship.

Ash and Gary walked the others to the door – it was no surprise to them that the latter was going to be staying at his friend's house – and waved goodbye to them. A series of "merry Christmas" and "goodnight!" chimed at the doorstep and soon the pair was alone.

Ash quickly took off towards his room, leaving Gary standing near the entrance by himself. Gary didn't blame him. It would take a little while to clear the awkwardness that May had left behind. He took to the couch, plopping down on it and closing his eyes for a few minutes.

Minutes turned to hours and he was awoken at five o'clock by Mrs. Ketchum shaking him. "Gary dear, why haven't you gone to bed yet?"

"Fell asleep," Gary groaned, rubbing his eyes.

The lady offered him a motherly smile and ruffled his hair. "Well, I just baked some cookies – yes, I know it's five o'clock. I just had the sudden need to do so. They're still warm so why don't you have a few and then head up to bed?"

Gary nodded and watched Ash's mother retreat before getting up and cracking his back. Shrugging his shoulders to wake his body up, he wobbled into the kitchen, where two glasses of milk and a plate of cookies had been set out.

_Wait, why's there two glasses of – _

"I knew I smelled cookies." Gary turned to see Ash grinning at him.

"Didn't you go to sleep?" he asked as the boys sat down next to each other and each grabbed a cookie.

"Woke up when I smelled food. You should know that about me by now," Ash replied, dipping his cookie into the milk and taking a gigantic bite. "Man, these taste great. Mom really knows how to bake."

Gary nibbled on his cookie – another habit he hadn't broken – as he watched Ash scarf down his fourth cookie. The other suddenly stopped and stared at Gary before grabbing his hand and shoving the entire cookie into his friend's mouth.

"Jesus, you eat like a pigeon," Ash grumbled as he picked up the last cookie. "Take bigger bites."

"I think you've had enough," Gary replied, snatching the cookie from Ash and jumping up from the table. "This one's mine."

He danced away laughing as Ash got up after him, hollering, "Gimme back my cookie!"

He managed to avoid Ash, running into the living room and climbing up on a table. "Jump for it, pipsqueak!" he laughed, all previous awkwardness fading away.

"Give it to me."

"Well then you better jump, shorty." And Ash did. High. And he brought Gary down with him as the table beneath him collapsed. The pair fell to the ground in a pile, the cookie flying towards some random corner or the room.

"Ow," Gary groaned, rubbing his face, before quickly jumping off Ash and pulling him up. "Hey, you okay?"

But Ash didn't reply – his eyes were instead glued to the ceiling above them – more specifically the little bouquet of green leaves dangling from it.

"Mistletoe," Ash whispered.

"Yeah."

"We're supposed to kiss." And he started to lean in.

_Holy shit._

"Hold it. Hold it." Gary quickly put his hand up, mimicking Ash's actions from a few hours ago. "You didn't want to kiss me before. What makes you want to do it now."

"There were people here before. That's something you do in private." Ash's hands came up to caress Gary's cheek. Gary leaned into his warm hand, closing his eyes. "May I?"

_This isn't real. _Gary simply nodded.

Their lips met in a soft embrace. Warmth transferred between them and Ash's hands came up to curl in Gary's spiky locks. Slowly, he pulled his best friend closer, his other hand sliding down to grip his waist. Gary's hands subsequently trailed upwards, wrapping around his arms around Ash's neck and leaning deeper into the kiss. He angled his head to the right and slowly his lips came apart. Ash entered slowly, tentatively, as if Gary was a precious porcelain doll that he was afraid of breaking. His tongue traced the inside of Gary's mouth, mapping it thoroughly before he pulled away and pressed his forehead to his friend's.

"You boys _do_ know that's holly, right?"

The boys jumped apart, cheeks reddening as Mrs. Ketchum walked towards them. The lady grabbed both of their hands and led them towards the kitchen. "_This_ is mistletoe," she explained, picking up a spare piece of the plant. "It has white berries. _This _is what you're supposed to kiss under. If you boys are going to be so noisy in the middle of the night, then at least get that much right."

She giggled and pulled both into a hug before leaving them to their own. "I'm going to bed. _Please_ keep it down just a tad bit."

Gary noticed she closed the door behind her.

He turned to look back at Ash who was rocking back and forth on his heels.

"So…" the boy finally said.

"So what?"

"Do I really need to ask?"

Gary simply nodded. Though he had a good idea of what was coming next, he wanted to hear it with his own ears.

"So do you wanna go out… with me?" Ash's cheeks darkened even more. It was probably the first time Gary had seen him so embarrassed in his life. He cocked his head to the side and studied his friend – upon closer inspection, he noticed that the other was trembling slightly, breaking out into an apparent cold sweat.

Not wanting to keep the other waiting much longer, Gary picked up the mistletoe Mrs. Ketchum had left on the counter and held it above his own head. He leaned forward and pressed his lips against Ash's once again – this time pulling away after a chaste kiss. "I'd love to."

And that was true. For if there was thing that Gary was sure of was that he and Ash would always be together, no matter what.


End file.
